NOUS41 KWBC 231521
PNSWSH
Public Information Statement, Comment Request
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
1123 AM EDT Wed May 23 2012
TO:Subscribers:
-Family of Services
-NOAA Weather Wire Service
-Emergency Managers Weather Information Network
-NOAAPORT
Other NWS Partners, Users, And Employees
FROM:Iftikhar Jamil, NWS Chief Information Officer
David B. Caldwell, Director, NWS Office of Climate,
Water, and Weather Services
SUBJECT: Soliciting Public Comments Through December 31, 2012
On Experimental Twitter Feeds
The NWS is currently seeking comments on provision of
environmentalinformation via experimental Twitter feeds.NWS is
exploringuse of Twitter to provide microblogging services.
Twitter is a commonly used social networking service that allows
participantsto share information with other users.
Microbloggingservices like Twitter serve as an important source
ofreal-time news updates.The short nature of updates allows
usersto post news items quickly, reaching their audience in
seconds. Because microblogging services are two-way, readers of
postscan reply to posts with various responses, such as a
weatherreport with location, time and images/videos.For the
NWS, aggregate analysis of this data provides information on
stormevolution, and partner/public perceptions and response.
Use of Twitter will provide a complementary means to disseminate
importantinformation about hazardous weather conditions.The
postswill also be used for public outreach and education and to
directusers to official NWS Web sites.
Experimental Twitter accounts are available at this time for the
followingNWS offices:
NWS Norman OK - @NWSNorman
NWS LMRFC (Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center)- @NWS_LMRFC
NWS Pleasant Hill MO - @NWSKansasCity
NWS Salt Lake City UT - @NWSSaltLakeCity
NWS Charleston SC - @NWSCharlestonSC
NWS Western Region - @NWS_Western_US
NWS Honolulu HI - @NWSHonolulu
NHC Atlantic / NHC Pacific - The National Hurricane Center will
run2 accounts, basin specific - @NHC_Atlantic, @NHC_Pacific
It is NWS’s intent to implement Twitter accounts for all NWS
offices. New accounts will be added gradually throughout the
comment/reviewperiod.A current listing of accounts may be
foundat http://nws.noaa.gov/socialmedia/ .
Experimental Twitter posts will serve as a supplemental channel
todisseminate environmental information. Availability of this
serviceis subject to constraints of Twitter service availability
andto availability of users’ internet service.Users should not
relyon this service as the primary means of receiving
alerts/warningsof hazardous weather. NWS alerts/warnings are
availableon NOAA Weather Radio and on our official
website: http://www.weather.gov/.Responses to users’ posts are
madeon a time-available basis and may be limited, especially
duringperiods of severe weather.
Additional information on the experimental use of Twitter may be
foundat:
http://products.weather.gov/PDD/twitter_sdd.pdf
Users must have valid Twitter accounts to view or post Twitter
content.Information on Twitter can be found at:
http://www.twitter.com/
Comments on this experimental service may be provided through
December 31, 2012 at:
http://www.weather.gov/survey/nws-survey.php?code=twitter
Disclaimers regarding NWS use of social media services can be
foundat:
http://www.weather.gov/disclaimer.php
http://www.weather.gov/credits.php#socialmedia
If you have comments or questions regarding this Public
Information Statement, please contact:
Ronald Jones
National Weather Service
Silver Spring Maryland 20910
301-713-1381 x 130
ronald.c.jones@xxxxxxxx
National Public Information Statements are online at:
http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm
$$